Over the summer, Education Secretary Michael Gove produced plans to cut the amount of guidelines that teachers were advised to read before planning a school trip, trimming the original 150-page document down to just eight.
The news was greeted with antipathy from some teaching unions but it seems that many teachers themselves are pleased with the changes from the Department for Education.
Misinterpretation of health and safety rules has been cited as a reason for the drop in educational visits in recent years and subsequently teaching unions have stated that, with reduced guidelines, there would be an increased fear of individual teachers coming under threat of legal action should a student suffer an injury whilst on an excursion.
The Government’s stance is that the guidelines will make things clearer.
It has always been the challenge of those organising school trips to strike the right balance between protecting pupils from risk and allowing them to learn in a new, exciting and engaging way. The important thing to remember is that there is still a wealth of information and resources available to teachers. Since the guidelines have been revised, the HSE, for example, has published a document aimed at dispelling any myths that might surround the organisation of a school trip outlining things such as what support staff should expect from their schools and what they should do if things do go wrong.
What the new, condensed guidelines provide is a less daunting overview of what should be taken into consideration, with plenty of links to further information should you need it.
There are also companies like ourselves that organise and manage trips for thousands of school pupils each year.
Of course, the safety and wellbeing of children is paramount, and should be in the forefront of everyone’s minds when planning any trip away from the classroom. We recognise that organising school trips can mean more responsibility and additional work for teachers, which is why we suggest using a reputable school trip operator to not only help with the organisation but to also ensure health and safety measures are being met.
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Adaptable Travel is an Assured Member of the School Travel Forum (STF) – a group of leading school tour operators who promote good practice and safety in school travel. All Assured Members of the STF adhere to a rigorous code of practice and set of safety management standards, and constantly review the requirements of the Department for Education and Scottish Executive guidelines.
By choosing an STF Assured Member to help organise a trip, it ensures teachers and schools are meeting the requirements needed so that they can delegate important tasks with confidence. If the new guidelines help clarify what a school needs to do to arrange an off-site excursion and reassures teachers and parents that they are following the right protocol, encouraging them to arrange a trip, then that’s definitely a good thing.
Whatever the outcome of the new plans and however teachers plan school trips going forward, whether it be independently or through an educational tour operator, it is important that pupils still get the chance to experience learning outside of the classroom. School trips provide a deeper subject understanding and increases the self-confidence of the pupil. They also help to develop pupils’ risk awareness, preparing them for their future working lives.
At the beginning of this year, a report appeared in the news that suggested too much attention to risk assessment meant that science field trips in particular were in decline and, whilst it is important to focus on managing risks on school trips, it shouldn’t be used as an excuse not to give pupils proper experience of how what they learn in the lab translates into the real world.
School trips that focus on science come in all shapes and sizes. We’re organising a trip in November with leading particle physicist Professor Brian Cox, resident science expert on Blue Peter, Steve Mould, and Simon Watt, presenter of Channel 4’s ‘Inside Nature’s Giants’. They will all be experimenting with different aspects of science in an engaging and interactive way, getting pupils involved and answering their questions.
This is just one example of the vast array of trips and excursions that are available to schools, with specialist tour operators, documentation and legislation on hand to make it easier to organise trips.
It’s important to remember that school trips truly enrich a pupil’s learning and if you are in charge of the organisation and planning, that help is at hand and you’re not alone.
